Christmas Press-ent

by Meghann on December 17, 2012

Happy Monday!

After a weekend full of delicious hot chocolate, cookies, and other sweets, it was time to head back to CrossFit this morning.

I wish I could say I was jumping at the chance to get back in the gym, but I wasn’t. I was dragging this morning and I wasn’t the only one. There were only three of us in today’s class and we all looked like we were doing the zombie crawl for the first part of the warm-up.

Thank goodness for warm-ups. The more CrossFit classes I take, the more I really start to appreciate the warm-up portion of the classes. It’s during the warm-up that I truly start to wake up and motivate myself to get moving. If I were to try to go straight to the WOD, I’m sure I would fail in epic proportions (not to mention injure myself in a serious way).

Today’s WOD: Christmas Pressent (ha! get it Press-ent 😉 )

Skill focus: Press

We’ve done plenty of push presses around here, but the regular press was a new one for me. We started with the bar in the rack and only relied on our arms to press the bar over our heads (in a push press you rely on your legs to get the bar up there).

I slowly worked my way up with my warm-up and decided to test my 4-6 rm (rep max) at 55. The 4-6 rm means that’s the weight where you can only do 4-6 reps total; no more, no less. I started with 55lbs, but maxed out at 3 reps. I took 5lbs off and hit 5 reps at 50 lbs. I tried for the 6th, but couldn’t get my arms to push it up there.

Once we hit the 4-6 rm, our next goal was to see how many reps we could do at 90% of our 4-6 rm weight. Paula even broke out the calculator to make sure we had the exact weight needed. 90% of 50 for me was 45lbs.

I took a healthy amount of rest (another thing I’m starting to appreciate in CrossFit – the importance of REST between sets!) then started my attempt. I felt good for the first 5, then really felt myself start to push it beyond that. I kept my core and butt tight and focused on using my arms to really push that bar up there everytime. I worked hard for my 10th rep, but couldn’t extend fully for the 11th – 10 it was!

WOD:

21 -15- 9 of:

Push Press

Swings

Double Unders 42 -30 -18 (or Singles 126 – 90 – 54)

For Time

The descending WODs are always kind of confusing to read on the board. Basically, you start out doing 21 push presses, 21 swings, and 42 double unders (or 126 single jump ropes in my case). Then go down to 15 push presses, 15 swings, and 30 double unders (90 singles) for the second round; and 9 push presses, 9 swings and 18 double unders (54 singles). All for time.

I’m not a fan of high rep workouts. Just reading the number “21” on the board makes me cry a little inside. Luckily mini-breaks are encouraged during the 21 reps. You don’t want the weight light enough where you’re flying through the 21, but not so challenging where you can only handle 3-4 at a time. Our coach told us a good rule of thumb is to be able to hit 10-12 reps without breaking, then pause and catch your breath before finishing up. Trust me, I paused and it felt good.

Tough workout! The sound of it scares me. I’m taking my first “real” CrossFit class tomorrow so I’m pretty nervous. I know what it’s like to collapse on the floor after a tough WOD, but it sounds like you did great today!Dori recently posted..pvBody: Workout Clothes Every Month + 20% Off

Ooooh man. Strict press makes me so mad. I can totally push press or push jerk like a champ, but take away the hip drive and I’m such a wimp! That Post WOD collapse feels so good. We did front squats this morning, along with squat cleans. I hate stairs today.Courtney @ Journey of a Dreamer recently posted..Coffee Date: What I Know Now

Your smooothie looks soooo good! I haven’t been using as much Pumpkin since Thanksgiving but I think its time for it to make a comeback.Jamie @ StudioEats recently posted..My 100th Post and a Give Away!

We recently did strict press maxes as well after having only done push presses before, and I was so shocked at how much of a difference it makes when you can’t use your hips at all to get that bar moving! I can push press 85 lbs but my strict press is only 60!

I totally agree with you about high reps, too. Seeing 21-15-9 on the board is one of my least favorite things to see when I walk into the box… We are doing Filthy 50 tonight which is 50 reps each of 10 different movements… We’ll see what happens 🙂Claire recently posted..Finally, A Weekend

I’m always inspired by your workouts. Not to mention that you can treat yourself to delicious sweets and jump back into your normal workout routine without feeling any guilt. I need to follow your lead!Megan @ The Delightfull Dash recently posted..Lowering My White Flag

I am so desperate to try crossfit, am thinking about doing some of the WOD’s on my own. How often do you typically go to Crossfit each week?Charlie (therunnerbeans) recently posted..Swimming with Wild Dolphins